Political Economy and Globalization

POLITICAL ECONOMY AND GLOBALIZATION

Political economy generally explores the production, allocation, and consumption of goods and services, including the role the state plays in these processes. The sociological approach to the study of political economy draws upon distinctive theoretical traditions, employs distinctive methods of analysis, and addresses distinctive subject matter. Sociological political economy particularly emphasizes the social context that frames economic production, resource distribution, and state action, typically a social context deeply marked by structural inequalities of class, ethno-racial identity, gender, and nation. Sociologists examine political-economic dynamics and outcomes that span a range of spatial scales (from the global economy to the local neighborhood), occur in a variety of organizational settings (from multilateral institutions to factory assembly lines), and take place across multiple historical periods (from the earliest stirrings of European colonial expansion to the present moment). Political economy enriched by the sociological perspective also recognizes that social movements, both popular and elite, have contested and changed the order of collective economic and political life.

The sociological study of political economy takes on timely questions of great relevance, questions such as:

Will countries whose class structure is being transformed by industrialization replicate the political experience of the already developed countries, and why or why not?
Why has a rising tide of inter-ethnic violence enveloped many states in recent years?
For what reasons has growth in government spending on social welfare stagnated?
How has the movement for women’s rights differently reshaped gender relations around the globe?
What accounts for the vast and widening gap of wealth and income in the world?

The Sociology Faculty in Political Economy and Globalization

Stephanie Bohon, Professor and Department Head
social and applied demography, immigration to emerging gateway places, Latino migration, ethnic economies, and immigrant incorporation/adaptation.
Michelle Christian, Associate Professor
globalization, political economy, racial stratification,labor, global tourism
Harry F. Dahms, Professor
theory, globalization, economic sociology/political economy, science fiction, sociology of film, artificial intelligence social inequalities, comparative sociology, entrepreneurship
Lisa East, Associate Professor of Practice
environmental sociology, political economy, historical methods, social movements, extractive industries, capitalist organizing and organizations
Paul Gellert, Professor
environmental sociology, development, comparative/historical sociology, political economy, Asian studies, global studies.
Asafa Jalata, Professor
globalization, race & ethnicity, economic development
Andrew Taeho Kim, Assistant Professor
labor markets; stratification and inequality; race and ethnicity; Asian American studies; gender; marriage and family; returns to education; research methods and statistics
Lindsay Shade, Assistant Professor
environmental sociology, political ecology, extractive industries, Latin America, Appalachia and the US South, political economy and globalization, critical legal theory, property and land tenure
Jon Shefner, Professor
globalization, social movements, development and democratization.